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Military Leaders Are Condemning The White Supremacist Violence In Charlottesville

"It's against our values and everything we've stood for since 1775."

The nation's top military leaders are tweeting against racism and intolerance in the wake of the white supremacist rally and car attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Evan Vucci / AP

Several members of the joint chiefs of staff spoke publicly about the need to condemn extremism and embrace diversity after President Trump's tumultuous press conference on Tuesday, in which he defended the white supremacists' actions as being just one side of the violence.

First was Navy Adm. John Richardson, who tweeted on Saturday night that the events in Charlottesville were "unacceptable & mustnt be tolerated"

Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

Adm. John M. Richardson, in 2014.

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Richardson, who was the only member of the joint chiefs of staff to specifically mention Charlottesville as of Wednesday, linked to a Facebook post with an attached Washington Post article about the car attack that killed a counterprotester.

On Tuesday, Gen. Robert Neller, commander of the United States Marine Corps, also tweeted that the Marines have "no place for racial hatred or extremism."

Jose Luis Magana / AP

Neller tweeted at 12:51 p.m., before Trump held his controversial press conference.

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On Wednesday morning, Gen. Mark Milley, chief of the US Army, chimed in, noting that the army "doesn't tolerate racism, extremism or hatred in our ranks."

Lauren Victoria Burke / AP

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Gen. Dave Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, added his voice on Wednesday, although he did not explicitly mention racism or extremism.

Jose Luis Magana / AP

"Stronger together" is familiar though. 👀

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Then Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, joined in, pinning this tweet to his profile:

“This is something General Lengyel clearly wanted to say. It just so happened that the other joint chiefs did that as well,” Jack Harrison, a spokesperson for the National Guard, told BuzzFeed News.

But he said the military leaders had not decided to all tweet about it one after the other.

"I don't believe it was a coordinated plan," Harrison said.

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